Applied Multimethod Thematic Analysis Using an International Study of Menopause in Registered Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Research
• Qualitative Methodology
• Thematic Analysis

Background:

• International collaboration of nurse researchers from six countries (Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Finland, Denmark).
• Focus on a large-scale international study concerning menopause among nurses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To showcase an iterative, two-stage thematic analysis process within a qualitative research paradigm.
• To illustrate the application of this methodology in an international menopause study involving nurses.

Main Methods:

• Employed an exploratory approach utilizing the Framework Method and Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis.
• Applied to qualitative data collected from 48 participants in the international menopause study.

Main Results:

• The Framework Method provided a structured matrix for organizing extensive narrative data.
• Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis facilitated the abstraction of themes into participant-centered narratives.

Conclusions:

• The iterative thematic analysis approach enabled effective international collaboration among nurse researchers across diverse settings.
• This systematic, structured method is valuable for manual qualitative data analysis, especially when advanced software is unavailable.